


Bread

by AvalonRoot



Series: The Ring Bearer Chronicles [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-26 18:34:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30110256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvalonRoot/pseuds/AvalonRoot
Summary: A woman escapes her past by accepting a ring from a secret organization. Using the ring, she takes on a bestial form with great destructive powers.
Series: The Ring Bearer Chronicles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2215698





	Bread

Bread rolled over and stretched. She had to get up soon, she knew, but right now she wanted to bask in the afterglow of her lovemaking with Philip. He had left an hour ago, had given her a quick kiss on her blush red cheek, and had walked out the door. She had fought the urge to pull him back into bed, to satisfy the blood lust still rushing through her body.

She had let him leave, and that had been a good thing. She opened her hand and extended her claws a couple of inches and regarded them. They had come out as she had climaxed, and it had taken an act of will not to rake them over his body.

When her claws came out it was time to end the relationship, because if she had sex with him again, she would probably kill him. She stretched again and thought back. It had been a good run, but it was over. At some point in the cycle, she would take on her bearer form by default, such as when she was unconscious or asleep. She would be a menace to Philip or anyone else around unlucky enough to rouse her.

“You should keep to your own kind,” Bryce said. “It’s better for everyone.”

Bread shrugged and turned away from him. It was two AM. They were in an alley behind the Armory.

“Don’t give me that crap. Don’t play the responsibility card with me. You want me for yourself. You’re not being honest with me. You’re not even being honest with yourself. I didn’t kill or maim him so what’s the harm?”

She put a furred hand to her chest. Deep inside, she still felt human. Sliding a ring on her finger hadn’t changed that. Her body may have changed but her soul and mind had not. That was the story she clung to anyway.

“Yeah, but you should be saving that stuff for a furry Mister Right.”

He had a point, she knew. There were stories of bearers who had done terrible things to their lovers when they lost control during sex. Bread thought back to her claws hovering over Philip’s back. It seemed that women lost control more than men. It wasn’t fair.

It occurred to her that the stories only seemed to spread concerning a woman’s failure, and her stomach lurched at the realization that she couldn’t think of a single story of a man losing control and slicing up a woman. She had been a bearer less than a year so she might have missed them though.

She was suddenly very tired. The alley was dark and smelly. Is this really what she had taken the ring for?

“Is anything going to happen here? Crap, is this a drill or something? I’ve got a life in the daylight and I need my sleep.”

That last part wasn’t true of course. She could stay up for days with no loss of focus. She was whining and she knew it, but she didn’t care. She absently twisted her ring. As usual, it didn’t move. When had she picked up that habit?

Bryce sighed.

“It’s not a drill as far as I know.” Her large eyes sensed him scanning the area. “Right. Nothing to see here. Let’s go.”

“Let’s.”

They headed for the street. By the time they were visible to a hypothetical midnight stroller they looked like every other human on the planet once you factored in stuff like skin color, hair, and height. The chill of the night slid its fingers on her bare skin. The hypothetical stroller might think it odd to see a man and a woman coming out of an alley dressed in leather bathing suits, but that stroller probably wouldn’t hang around to ask for details once she had seen the look in their eyes.

She hurried to the car Bryce had parked in the lip of the alley and pulled on a pair of jeans and a pullover from a pile on the back seat.

“It’s not two thirty yet. Buy you a drink?”

She glanced at him. What she had said about having a daylight life was true, but right now she didn’t feel tired at all.

“Sure,” she said. “But all you’re going to get from me is good conversation.”

He smiled at her, but there was something she couldn’t read in his eyes.

“That’s fine. Your conversation is the best.”

Bread tended to think that Bryce was all muscle and no brain but maybe that was because she spent most of her time with him on bearer business where being muscle and no brain was his job.

After a lot of soul searching, she had broken it off with Philip. He had taken it poorly.

“Bad chemistry? Is that the best excuse you could come up with?”

“It’s hard to explain, Philip. I’m sorry. After you left last time, I had a flash about the future, and I saw us diverging. Sure, the sex was great, but I need more than that.”

Philip looked at the heavens as if beseeching someone up there to explain women to him. His shoulders slumped. He nodded.

“You’re going to do what you’re going to do, but don’t blame me. You’re the one who didn’t want to go out. You’re the one who pulled me into bed.” He waved absently and walked away. “Have a good life,” he said over his shoulder.

“Maybe you should have told him the real reason.”

Bread glanced at Lyra.

“You know we’re not supposed to reveal ourselves to humans.”

Lyra set her drink back on the bar and looked at Bread wryly.

“Really, Bread. That rule is observed more in the breach than in the observance. Do you think Portal and his cohort really care what we do as long as we don’t embarrass the group?” She reached out and covered Bread’s hand with hers. The ring on her finger seemed alive, but Bread was sure it was just the light. “Tell me the real reason.”

“I didn’t want to scare him to death. I didn’t want his last image of me to be a feral animal.”

“Feral?” Lyra grinned and rolled her eyes. “Are we full of ourselves or what? You know full well that the givers were more evolved than us.”

“Well, I…”

Bread was flustered. She didn’t know how to react when somebody brought up the people who had provided the rings. Where they from another planet, from their future, from—nobody had a good answer so they went with the party line. Whether or not they were more evolved than humans was accepted even though the evidence was sparse. Humans couldn’t have made those rings, that much was clear.

“Do you love him or not? Here’s a thought. Don’t reveal yourself to him. Get him to tie you down. Wear leather gloves. Tell him it’s a fetish thing. Make up a safe word. Didn’t you ever play pretend as a child?”

Light began to dawn on Bread.

“You’ve done this before.”

“Bam. You’ve hit it out of the park.”

“So how did it work out?”

Lyra frowned.

“We broke up.”

“Why?”

“I met somebody else.” She paused. “Another bearer.” She gave Bread a quick glance. “I was tired of hiding my relationship.” She squeezed Bread’s hand. “Hey, maybe yours will turn out better than mine. You should at least give it a chance.”

“I don’t know. Everyone has baggage they carry with them, but I’m afraid I’ve got a whole storage shed full of baggage. Actually, it can’t be a shed because it has to have wheels so it can follow me around. Something big on wheels, that’s the amount of baggage I have.”

Lyra nodded. She knew. When a person was offered a ring, it meant that they had nothing to gain by accepting and everything to lose if they didn’t. In Bread’s case she had murdered someone. It had been justified in her eyes but not in the eyes of the law.

Once she had agreed to become a bearer her death had been faked and a new identity had been built for her. They named her Sally Myers and told her that her backstory was about as white bread as it got. She had decided to make Bread her nickname to remind her of how not special she was.

She rubbed the ring with her thumb. It only looked like a ring of course. Tendrils from it had already threaded themselves throughout her body. It would never come off. Well, it could come off, but only if she were dead or if the ring thought she was dead. The story went that the ring rewired your body to allow it to change into the furry form.

Lyra’s voice snapped her back to the bar.

“Well, gotta go. My date is here. I like your company and all, but there are some things I need that you can’t provide.”

“I’m glad you found someone. I hope they are nice.”

Lyra tossed some money onto the bar and smiled at Bread as she pushed herself off the stool.

“Oh, she’s better than nice dear heart. Much better.”

Bread watched her walk to the entrance. A woman stood there dressed in ripped up jeans and a turtleneck sweater. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and the bill of a baseball cap was pulled low on her head, obscuring her face. They hugged when Lyra reached her. As they walked out Bread saw that the woman’s arm was hooked around Lyra’s waist.

Now she had something to tell Bryce, assuming he didn’t already know.

They were in the alley again. Bread heard a noise above her. She cocked her head at Bryce. He had heard it too. He touched his ear microphone and made the go signal and leapt at the wall. He was a yard ahead of her before she got her first handhold. Digging her claws into the brick she fought to catch up. Bits of brick and mortar rained down on her.

She was damned if he was going to get to the top of the building ahead of her. He noticed her pull even with him and smiled before pulling ahead. Her body was humming like a high-tension wire in a Santa Anna wind when she threw herself over the lip of the building and onto the roof. Primed for attack she forced herself to scan the area. A side channel in her brain noted that Bryce was doing the same thing. He was harder to see now that his fur had gone full camo although to others he would, like her, be almost invisible. Being naked helped, but she didn’t like to do that except as a last resort.

Bryce signaled that she was to take the left path while he took the right. The top of the building had the usual collection of HVAC units and sheds. No skylights though. A slight wind caused some of the loose gravel on the root to shift. Was that what they had heard? Sometimes these heightened senses were more of a hindrance than a help.

She remembered one night with Philip. She had carefully shifted to her bearer form and listened to his body while he slept. His heart was strong and regular, but she could hear the slight differences in its function that made it his alone and made it possible for her to locate him in a crowd if she needed to.

One lung was able to hold more air than the other one. Had he smoked at one time? Had it been damaged by some long-ago trauma?

Looking and listening to him this way gave her such a rush of intimacy that she wanted to slide under the sheet with him and cover his body with hers, let her furred skin stroke his bare human body as she took him in his sleep, let his lips take her tongue as her vagina took his penis.

His grunt snapped her back to reality. Had she rubbed too hard? Had she scratched him? Moving with silence only a bearer was capable of she fled to the bathroom, stood there panting in the darkness while her bearer form faded away. When she felt she could get back in bed with him so saw that he was still erect. Well, she could handle that now, couldn’t she?

The sound of servos and the smell of electricity brought her back to the roof. Someone was up here, and they were using an exoskeleton.

Why would someone need an exoskeleton to break into the Armory?

That knowledge was above her pay grade. She double tapped her ear microphone to signal Bryce that she was about to acquire the target and jumped to the top of a nearby shed. It was about ten feet high, and she was able to make the leap in total silence. She crossed to the other side and attacked.

Bread sailed into the air. Her left arm flooded her brain with signals. It felt broken. It looked like she was going to come down a few feet past the edge of the building. If she stretched herself maybe she could grab the building and break her fall. She hoped that it wouldn’t break her neck as well.

She managed to dig into the brick which broke her fall, but it also caused her to slam into the side of the building at tremendous speed. She felt her tendons stretching and she was afraid they were going to break, letting her fall to her death. They held though. Her human arm would not have held. Hell, if she had been in her human form, she would already be dead.

The top of the building extended over the main façade at about thigh level so that when her body hit her legs kept going until her feet touched the side of the building.

Bits of brick and mortar dislodged by her grip rained down on her. It didn’t pose any danger, but her body didn’t need the added abuse. She kept glancing up, sure that the person who had trapped and killed Bryce was going to peer over the edge of the building at any second.

Perhaps she should get back to the roof and check.

Hell, I might as well let go now. Death from a fall would be better than the slaughter Bryce had been dealt.

She managed to lower herself down the side supporting her body with one finger at a time until she was low enough to get under the overhang. A back channel in her head told her that she had made enough noise to wake a deaf army so why in hell was the doing this.

She ignored the back channel. Once she was in a position of, she hoped, safety, she took a more detailed stock of her injuries. The pain in her arm was bearable only because her brain had turned the pain signal off and replaced it with a flashing icon that she could see when she closed her eyes.

Several icons were flashing when she closed her eyes to check. Her training told her to tap the emergency code on her ear microphone and people would boil out of the Armory like ants onto a bare foot, but she didn’t. For one thing, this had happened on the Armory roof. How could they not know that a massive energy discharge had occurred up here? For another she had seen Bryce activate the signal. Nothing had happened.

What was it? Bridge night down there? Had they all gone bowling?

Something cold circled around in her brain. What if they knew and did nothing? What did she know about the Armory and the rings they bestowed on people? What did she know about the protocols they followed? What did she know about anything? She had been in dire straits and they had appeared out of nowhere to save her—white knight like.

She shook her head to clear it. Hanging around on the side of the building was not getting any of her questions answered, and her good arm was beginning to ache. She took a deep breath and made her move.

Her next conscious thought was roughly twenty minutes later. Bryce, silent lay in front of her, still tangled in the metal mesh that had been used to kill him. Pushing her emotions out of the way she examined the scene for any clues about the person who had done this. His fur’s camo had ceased to function because of his death but his body had kept the bearer form. That told her that he had been a bearer longer than she had.

That was another reason she had broken it off with Philip. After you’ve been a bearer for a while it becomes harder to retain the human form. Her fear was that she would wake up one morning and find Philip crouched in a corner watching her with fearful eyes, her bearer form visible in the morning light.

He had been pressing her to stay with him the entire night so that he could make his special pancakes for her in the morning. She had wanted so much for that to happen, but she knew it was insane of her to even consider it.

Her scan quickly exposed the reason for the ambush. A section of mesh had been cut away, and she noticed with revulsion, that Bryce’s hand—his right hand—was missing, had been cut off at the wrist. Had this ambush been set up solely to collect a bearer’s ring?

If that was so, why didn’t they come after hers as well? Perhaps the person had not anticipated that she would jump on him like she had. Perhaps the reflex had been to swat her away and the exoskeleton had done the rest? By the time Bryce’s hand had been severed she would have been hidden.

As far as she knew female bearers were as powerful as the male bearers. The rings were all taken from the same safe, weren’t they? She shelved that line of inquiry for a later time. Right now, she needed to gather what information she could before the scene was disrupted.

One thing she noticed was that the mesh was more extensive that she had realized. The person in the exoskeleton had set the trap then taken up a spot in the middle of it to serve as bait. It was only because Bread had come at her from above that she had not been electrocuted along with Bryce.

Well, there was the answer to one question anyway. The person had been after both rings. So, equality was preserved. How fucking twenty-first century of them.

A chopping sound above attracted her attention. Looking up she saw a helicopter circling the building. It would have been silent to any non-augmented human standing beside her. It would have been invisible as well. She tapped her ear microphone.

“Ops? Anybody there? Ops? Got a situation here. Wake up.”

A door slid open on the side of the helicopter and something fell out. She focused on the object. No, it was someone in an exoskeleton. The same person? Was she coming back for her? She backed up a step and noticed the mesh moving under her bare feet. That gave her an idea.

The exoskeleton slammed down onto the roof. The feet sank three or four inches into the concrete and rebar. While the person was focused on freeing its feet Bread ran over and tossed a section of mesh over the exoskeleton and wrapped it around the surprised form a few times.

She backed up perhaps twenty feet and ran at it as fast as she could, digging the claws in her feet deep into the concrete for more traction. She heard something crack as she rammed into it. She suspected it was somewhere inside her own body. A quick blink of her eyes confirmed it. She figured she would be lucky if she stayed alive long enough to see the dawn.

Yeah, she would be lucky all right, but what good would it do her if she didn’t have a person in the world she could turn to?

Her momentum had been enough tip the exoskeleton wearer sideways so that more of her hung over the building than not, and Bread mounted it as it toppled and rode it down to the street below. She could see the face inside the exoskeleton screaming at her, and Bread was disappointed that she couldn’t reach inside the mesh and move her claws around until the face was a mass of red mush.

Dawn was fast approaching as she ran through the streets. The fur’s camo was on full, but it wouldn’t work as well in the daylight as it did at night. Running was hard because she had to hold her hurt arm with her good one. She didn’t feel much of the pain, but she would like to use that arm again someday. She needed to find a shelter. She couldn’t go to her apartment because it was too far away. She had to find something though, and soon.

There was a place she could go but she had kept the idea rolling around in her head, not allowing it to settle into a decision. Finally, though, she realized that she had to try it. She hoped that the bridge she had burned could still be crossed somehow.

She punched the code into the keypad embedded on the driver’s side of the car. When she heard the lock click open the pulled the door open and got into the back seat. After closing and locking the door she fell into a deep sleep to allow her body to heal.

With luck Philip wouldn’t see her when he got in his car in a few hours to drive to work. With luck she would be able to banish her bearer form long enough to talk to him and throw herself on his mercy.

Philip reached into the rack of clothing and felt something soft against the back of his hand. It was one of her dresses. He checked. There were three others in there and a pair of jeans with a sparkly design on the back pockets. He wondered if the designs were meant to draw peoples’ attention to the wearer’s butt.

He sighed. Most likely they were that way because they looked cool. He made a mental note to gather all of Bread’s clothes into one spot and package them for her to pick up someday. She had been wearing jeans like those in the closet the day they met.

“Hello,” she said. “My name is Sally Whitebread. What can I interest you in today?”

“You’re new here.”

She smiled.

“Yes sir. They just unloaded me from the truck last night and calibrated me. It’s my first day on the job.” He must have looked confused. She held up her pencil and pointed vaguely behind her. “That last part, the stuff after I said hello. I mostly made that up. I can see that you’re not ready for witty banter until you’ve had your coffee. I’ll make a note.”

She scribbled something on her check and looked back at him.

“There. All noted and sorted. No banter until coffee has been incorporated into your system. Now what can I interest you in today?”

He had managed to put together an order and she had left to process it. He tried not to be conspicuous as he watched the patterns on the back pockets sway as she walked.

She brought his meal later and was attentive but not chatty. He wanted to tell her that he was ready for witty banter, but that part must have been a joke as well.

He finished and paid. On his way to the door, he heard her call to him.

“See you tomorrow A5.” He must have looked confused, so she smiled. “It’s your table number since I didn’t get your name.”

“Philip. My name is Philip.”

She rubbed her chin.

“I think I’ll stick with A5.”

Philip felt bemused as he walked to his car. Had she been flirting with him? Could she be interested in him as a person and not just someone who helped with café’s bottom line? He shook his head.

Not likely Philip old man. Not likely.

Something occurred to him. Surely Whitebread couldn’t be her real name. Could it? He hadn’t been a regular, but he became one that day.

He didn’t have the time or the inclination to search out all of her stuff right now. That task could wait. Hell, it could wait forever for all he cared. If she wanted the stuff she could come and get it. He grabbed a shirt to pull it off the hanger, but the hanger was stuck in the one holding one of her dresses and the dress fell to the floor.

He looked at it and shrugged. She can irritate me, and she isn’t even here. He turned off the closet light and closed the door.

When he went to the café the next day, he asked to sit at A5. He saw Sally in the back area, but she didn’t seem to be coming out to see what he wanted. Was it possible that they swapped tables? Had he been foolish enough to think that she would always have A5? He examined his feelings. Why did he care? Sure, she looked nice and had a sexy hip roll when she walked but was there any more to her?

“What can I interest you in today?” He jumped and looked up at her. “I’m sorry. Were you deep in thought or something? Maybe you were trying to figure out what you did wrong yesterday.”

“I did something wrong yesterday? What?”

She shrugged.

“Hey, I’m not a mind reader. What I said was just a guess based on observation. Sherlock Holmes and I are alike that way, except that he doesn’t exist while I—hold on. Maybe we are alike.”

“What did I do wrong?”

She put a hand on her hip.

“I’ve been in this place for a week and you just noticed me yesterday.”

“I’m sorry. Was I supposed to notice you?”

She smiled a smile that made him think that he had passed a test of some kind. It made him feel good for no reason that he could state.

A week later he asked her to go out with him. She gave him a sad smile.

“I’ve love to, but I never date anyone unless I’m ready to sleep with them.”

“How can you make a decision like that unless you go out with them?”

“Maybe that’s why I never have any relationships.” He looked at her and she laughed and flipped her hair. “Banter. Sure, I’ll go out with you, but we have to do something other than eat. Honestly, I don’t know about you, but I literally end up eating something every day.”

“That’s fine. We can do other things.”

“Great. We can squeeze eating in there as well if you’ve got your heart set on it.”

They went bowling and ate nachos with that weird cheesy stuff on them and drank beer. He felt giddy that night as he walked her to her door. He didn’t have plans to go inside ‘for a cup of coffee’ or anything like that. It was a first date, and he didn’t like to push people. When they reached her door, she turned to face him.

“I had a great time tonight. I don’t know what that stuff is they put on those nachos, but it was great. Didn’t you think it was great? I’m sorry about winning more games than you. I’ll see what I can do about it.”

“Don’t worry about it. I think the entire evening was great, but you know what they say. All good things must end.”

“Yeah, but this was a great thing. Do great things have to end?”

“I don’t know. I just know that we’ve come to the end of this date.”

“Yeah, I guess we have.” She wrung her hands. “I’m surprised you haven’t called me on my name.”

“Sally isn’t your name?”

“I mean Whitebread. It’s a made-up name. My name is Sally Myers.”

He held out his hand.

“I’m pleased to meet you Sally Myers. Your alter ego and I had a great time tonight.”

“Thank you for letting me know. She never tells me anything. I can’t count the times I’ve come to, hugging the toilet bowl while she stands there looking all innocent.”

“Goodnight then.”

She leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

“Goodnight, Philip. I’d hang around a little longer but I gotta go inside and masturbate. I expect you’ll be doing the same only later.”

She had already unlocked the door and the door was closed behind her before he could make a comment. He smiled to himself and headed back to his car. His phone beeped. He looked at it before fastening his seatbelt.

You can call me Bread.

Philip had finished his morning routine. He was ready to leave for work, but his tie was crooked. He spent a few minutes adjusting it. Then he went back into the closet and picked the dress up and put it back on its hanger. As he held it against his body to straighten it, he got the sensation that she was in the dress and that he was hugging her. All he had to do was lean forward and her lips would be there ready to kiss him.

“Get a grip old man. She’s gone and it’s good riddance.”

Three weeks later they were in bed together. He had been amazed at the delight she had taken in exploring his body. He hoped he had returned the favor. They faced each other with plastic cups of wine between them. She had suggested using straws.

“I’m not all happiness and light,” she said. “I have a dark side too.”

“We all do.”

“I know, but I think my dark side is darker than most.” She touched his arm. “I mean, I’m not a serial killer or a sociopath or anything like that. I’ve pretty much only done one bad thing and I don’t plan to do any more. Well, I didn’t actually plan to do that one until I saw that there wasn’t any other way. Wow, I am talking excessively tonight. I want to tell you about it, but not now. Not tonight. Can you live with that?”

He stroked her cheek.

“Sure, as long as you don’t stop the banter.”

He thought he could see tears in her eyes as she leaned in to kiss him. Some of the wine had found its way to the sheets, he noticed. The sheets needed changing anyway.

“Do you want me to help you change the sheets before I go?”

“Change the sheets? Why?”

“They were pretty gunked up already and now there are wine spills as well.”

“Philip, I just had some great sex between these sheets.” She held out her sheet-covered hand. “See how warm that feels? How cozy? The world could be going to hell outside but if I wrapped myself in these sheets, I’d be safe even if the walls crumbled.”

“If these sheets are such a haven then why are you kicking me out?”

“I’m perfectly capable of savoring this experience for both of us.”

“Thanks for taking that load off me,” he said. He kissed her and got up to go to the bathroom.

He picked up his keys from the bowl in the foyer and went outside.

His phone rang and he held it between his shoulder and his ear while he punched in the security code on the embedded keypad and pulled the door open. Sarah at the office was calling him to ask if he could reschedule his eight o’clock appointment.

“Sure. Find a free spot in the afternoon and lock it in.”

“Okay. Thanks. I didn’t want you to rush in only to find the appointment had been canceled.”

“You’re too good for me.”

“Probably.”

He smiled. Sarah was always doing extra things for him like that. He wondered if there was more to it than being professional. It didn’t matter though. She worked for him so nothing could be allowed to develop.

He slid under the wheel and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat. He was reaching for his seatbelt when he heard a noise behind him. Before he could turn to see what it was, a hand had gripped his neck and squeezed. It felt hard—bony. Body on full alert he managed a glance at the rearview mirror and see a form that looked like a person in a gorilla suit. Actually, it didn’t look very human at all, but the eyes had a glint of something in them that told him the form was conscious.

“Don’t even think about saying anything. Open the garage door and pull inside.”

“Why? So you can kill me in peace?”

The bony hand tensed on his neck. The vibrations of her voice unnerved him. Yes, it was female. Had to be.

“I could close my hand right now and my claws would go through your skin and bones would offer about as much resistance as warm cream cheese. Your head would fall off and blood would start spurting out your neck getting blood everywhere. Just open the door and drive in.”

He nodded and punched the garage door opener. He started the car as the metal door started to rise. The hand on his neck loosened and dropped away. He drove inside and closed the big door behind him. He turned off the car and sat there waiting for her next move.

When it didn’t come after a few minutes he debated what to do. He couldn’t sit here all day. Unbuckling the seatbelt, he shifted his body so that he could look in the back seat. At first, he thought a lion had crawled into his back seat, only the fur was darker and harder to focus on than a lion’s fur.

But it couldn’t be a lion or any four-footed animal because she had well-defined arms and legs. One of the arms was bent at an odd angle and he sensed that it was broken. Black ooze covered her body in places. It was most likely whatever she used for blood.

“Hey, what now?”

His throat was gruff and scratchy. Was he crazy to try to wake her up? Why didn’t he get out and call the police or animal control? He knew why. For all of her abruptness, she was hurt.

He started to reach over and shake her but stopped when he realized that she might kill him by accident. Perhaps if he moved around enough, she would come to. He got out of the car and folded down the seat. There were streaks of black ooze where she had rubbed against the upholstery.

She looked naked at first, but then he noticed that she wore a bikini. It looked like leather.

Well, I can’t stand here looking at her all morning.

He went into the house and found a bottle of water. He snagged a bottle of whiskey on the way out.

When he got back to the garage, she was sitting hunched over, arms across her legs. She looked at him.

“Did you call the police?”

“No,” He held out the bottles. “I’ve got water and whiskey. I thought you might need a shot.”

Her face rearranged itself and he hoped she was smiling.

“The water will be sufficient for now.”

He opened the bottle and handed it to her. She took it with her left hand and drained it.

“Do you need more?”

“I need a lot more than that. I need your help. Can I come inside?” She looked down at her body. “I’m paper trained.”

“I, uh, figured you were. I mean, I saw your clothes and I uh…”

His voice trailed off.

“It was a joke. I guess you’re not ready for jokes from someone who casually talked about killing you.”

“Yeah, uh, there’s that. Can you get out by yourself? Do you need help?”

“I can manage.” She took her time getting out of the car and braced herself against the door in order to stand up. She looked at him. “I guess I could use some help after all.”

She extended her good arm and Philip positioned himself next to her. He trembled a little when she lowered her arm onto his shoulder. The claws were gone though. That was good. He slid a tentative arm around her waist. Her fur didn’t feel like any animal he had ever touched.

“Ready?”

She nodded.

“Ready.”

They made their way to the three steps that lead up to the kitchen. She was able to walk without difficulty, but she placed a lot of weight on him.

“You’re heavier than you look.”

“Just what a gal wants to hear.”

“I’m sorry. I just meant—“

“Hey, don’t sweat it. I am heavier than I look. I’m also stronger, meaner, and wilder than anybody you’ve ever met.”

“I’m sure.”

What a lame comeback. What does it matter? It’s not like I’m going to ask her out.

They had made it to the kitchen.

“Do you need to lie down?”

“Probably, but right now I need food in order to heal. I’m losing weight just standing here.”

He gestured at a chair.

“I’ll help you sit down, and I’ll make you something to eat.”

He helped her settle into the chair.

“Now what can I make you?”

“Milk. Bacon. Eggs. Anything.”

He got a gallon jug of milk from the refrigerator and set it on the table.

“I’ll get you a glass.”

“No need.”

She popped the lid and raised the jug to her lips. When she set it down again it was a quart lower than it had been.

“Bacon? Hello?”

“I’m sorry.”

He took out the bacon and eggs and put them on the counter.

“How many do you want?”

“All of them. Bring them here. I don’t have time for you to cook them.”

“Isn’t that unhealthy?”

“I’ll manage.”

He set the carton of eggs in front of her, and she took one out and slid it into her mouth. He must have looked incredulous.

“What? I can use the shell too. Open the bacon please.”

He took the bacon out of the package. She rolled it up and put it in her mouth. After a few seconds of chewing, she swallowed and made another roll. Alternating between the bacon and eggs she finished them off in ten minutes or so. In between bites she took long pulls from the milk jug.

Near the end he noticed that her right arm had straightened out and she had begun using it while she ate. When she saw him looking at it, she flexed her fingers.

“Told you I was a fast healer. Do you have any cake or pie? You usually have pie around her somewhere.”

“How would you know that?”

She shrugged—her expression unreadable.

“You looked like a pie guy. That’s all.”

“Pie guy? Is that an expression where you come from?”

“I’m not from far away.”

“Really, then how come I’ve never seen you before?”

“Come on. I bet you can’t even describe your neighbors from two streets down.”

“Probably not, but—“

“But they don’t look like giant alien fox cat hybrids. I understand.”

“Hey, that’s not what I meant.”

“The pie?”

“Right.”

He found the pie and put it on the table.

“I’m assuming that you’re going to eat all of it, so I won’t get you a plate.”

“Fine, but at least you could cut it for me. I haven’t had time to clean my claws.”

He got a knife and cut the pie into six slices. He took one slice for himself.

“Do you have a name?”

She stopped eating.

“What?”

“My name is Philip. What’s yours?”

She hesitated for a few seconds as if his question had caught her off guard.

“It’s uh, Br—uh, Brie.”

“I wouldn’t have pictured you as a Brie. Live and learn I guess.”

“I’m sorry if that’s not exotic enough for you. Your friends probably all have very interesting names. Shit, Brie is a fucking interesting name, and it’s a very tasty cheese I might add.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.”

“That’s okay. I’m sure that our relationship is going to be brief. If I could grab a couple of hours on your couch, I’ll be on my way and you’ll never have to pick my fur out of your food again. I am in your debt for helping me though. I’ll repay you when I can. Do you have mice? I’m hell on mice.”

She pushed her chair back and stood up. Philip could see that she wasn’t as steady as she wanted him to believe. Her arm seemed to be completely healed though.

She swayed slightly and in that instant Philip realized that this person standing in front of him was Bread, not the Bread that he knew, but in his gut, he knew they were the same. He took her hands to steady her. She pulled away but not hard enough to break his grip.

“What are you doing? Let me go.”

“I will, but I want to do this first.”

He raised her hands to his head and cupped his face with them. They were hotter than Bread’s normal hands. He felt his bowels loosening with the thought that he might be wrong, that she might slice her claws through his head like she had threatened to do earlier. He pulled himself together.

“Satisfied?”

“Yes. I know who you are.” She tried to pull her hands away, but he held on to them. “And I understand why you broke up with me. Well, I don’t, but I can see why you would think you had to.”

She pulled her hands away again and he let her this time.

“Nice theory. I need to use your bathroom.”

“It’s—“

“I know where it is.”

Philip put his hand on the table for support as he watched her leave the room. Was he mistaken? How could he force her to confess? Why did he want her to? If this was her new form now, then what future did they have? She had probably been right to break it off.

Still, he had to try something. It occurred to him that he could call her phone. She probably had it on her in some hidden pocket. He took out his phone and thumbed her number. It rang several times and then the voicemail kicked in.

“Bread, I think you should have discussed this with me instead of making a unilateral decision to cut me out of your life.”

He put his phone back in his pocket and went into the hallway to wait for her. A few minutes later he heard the toilet flush. A few seconds later her heard water running in the sink. Was she getting her fur wet? The water stopped and the door opened a few seconds later.

Bread—his Bread—walked through the door. She spread her arms wide and tried to grin.

“I’m baaack.”

Without thinking he rushed toward her and then she was in his arms. They kissed. She buried her head in his neck.

“I’m glad you’re back.”

“I didn’t want to kill you by accident. I was afraid that in the heat of passion my claws would come out and…”

Her voice trailed off.

“But Bread—“

“Bryce is dead. He was teaching me how to fight. Now he’s dead, killed by a mysterious person in an exoskeleton. Listen to me ramble. I’m talking nonsense. You must think I’m crazy.”

“I don’t. I knew there was a lot about you that I didn’t know. I know you had your secrets, but I didn’t think they were this big. I saw you change from one form to another.”

“I couldn’t change earlier because it would have been too painful. My bearer form can block the pain. When I changed back to normal, I passed out. Also, I didn’t want you to know it was me.”

She kissed him again and this time he felt something more behind the kiss. Her hands slid inside his coat and pushed it off his shoulders then she found his belt and unbuckled it. Philip’s head began to spin as he realized what she wanted. He reached for the clasp on her leather bikini top.

“You don’t have to be at the office right away, do you?”

“Uh, no. I think I took the day off. I’m pretty sure I did.”

The doorbell rang.

“Fuck. Who could that be? Are you expecting anyone?”

He shook his head.

“I was on my way to work. Let’s ignore them. Maybe they’ll go away.”

The doorbell rang again. Bread looked resigned.

“You’d better answer it. There’s a chance it could be for me.”

He picked up his coat and dropped it on the back of a chair as he went to the front door. Bread followed him and positioned herself so that the open door would hide her. She nodded. He looked out the spy hole.

“It’s a woman.”

“Is she alone?”

“She appears to be. I don’t know her. Do you want to take a look?”

“Sure.”

He moved aside and Bread positioned her eye and grunted.

“Do you know her?”

She stood back from the door.

“Yes. It’s Lyra. She was my mentor. She helped me get adjusted to my new life.” She glanced at him. “As a giant furry killing machine.”

“So is she—“

“A giant furry killing machine too? Yes.”

“Let her in then. I’ll get some milk.”

“Very funny.”

“This is a very stressful situation. I make jokes when I’m stressed.”

She smiled.

“I know. It’s cute.”

Before he could reply she opened the door and smiled.

“Lyra, this is unexpected. Come in. How did you know I was here?”

Lyra walked into the room and looked around casually. He wondered if she was checking the place out.

“Your phone rang earlier, and I happened to notice it. We recovered your stuff along with Bryce’s personal effects last night.”

“You were at the Armory when it happened?”

“No. When I heard I—“She stopped herself and looked at Philip. “I’m sorry. My name is Lyra, and you are?”

“Where are my manners?” Bread said. “Lyra, this is Philip. Philip, this is Lyra.”

They shook hands.

“Bread has mentioned you,” Lyra said. “I’m surprised to find her here. She said she had broken up with you.”

“She had.”

“Last night, Bryce was killed, and I was severely injured. I couldn’t contact the Armory, so I came here. It was the only place I could think of to go.”

“You look fine this morning.”

“Yeah, I raided Philip’s refrigerator to get the raw materials to rebuild myself.”

Lyra glanced at Philip.

“You’ve told him all about your other life and your responsibilities?”

“Actually, no. I stayed in my bearer form so that he wouldn’t know who I was. He figured it out anyway.”

“Smart boy. I take you’re the one who called?”

“Yeah. I thought if I called her phone and, it rang on her then she would have to admit who she was.”

“Only I didn’t have my phone with me.”

“Bread, you need to come down to the Armory and get debriefed. I can’t say much in an unsecured location such as this, but things are dire. You have valuable information that the Armory needs. Do you have any clothes?”

“I might have left a few things here.”

“You did. I noticed some clothes this morning.”

“I’ll go change.”

“Can I offer you something while we wait?”

“Sure.”

“You can change your appearance to look the same as Bread’s altered form?”

“I can, but I’d have to take off my dress. Our bodies get a bit larger when we switch.”

She smiled. It looked out of place on her face. Philip didn’t like the look of it.

“No thanks. I trust you.”

“Do you have any beer?”

“Beer?”

“Yeah. It’s not just for breakfast anymore.”

“Sure. Come on in the kitchen and I’ll get it.”

He opened the beer and handed it to her.

“Thanks. How much did Bread eat?”

“She drank a gallon of milk, ate a pound of bacon, swallowed a carton of eggs, and finished most of a pie.”

“I see. She was hurt pretty badly then.”

“I’d say so.”

“Let me show you a trick.”

Lyra put the bottle to her lips and drank. It was empty when she took it from her lips. She held up her index finger and he saw that a three-inch claw had extended from it. She gripped the beer bottle and used her other hand to twist it all the way around. When she was done, she tapped the bottle on the edge of the counter and the bottle popped into two pieces. She handed the pieces to Philip.

“I could do the same thing to your head if I wanted to.” She smiled and cocked her head. “I think Bread is about ready.”

Bread went into the bedroom closet and looked at the clothes she had left here.

More than I thought. Was I planning to come back after all?

One hanger stood apart from the others and the dress looked slightly wrinkled. Perhaps it had fallen, and Philip had rehung it. It was a one piece belted at the waist. She took it down and shook it out. It would do.

She had been glad to see Lyra, but she had also been afraid. She had hoped to spend a little more time recovering.

Who are you kidding? You were totally going to shag Philip in the hallway.

Well, there was that as well, but she wasn’t ready to meet the people at the Armory, and she wasn’t ready to have Portal’s hard gaze fall on her. Was Portal still alive? Surely Lyra would have said something if he was dead. Of course, Lyra would be circumspect in front of Philip. She would be more forthcoming in the car.

She pulled the dress over her head and zipped it up the back and fastened the belt. Something was missing.

Shoes.

She found two pair in the shoe rack, stacked next to Philip’s.

How did all this stuff get here? I never stayed the night.

She shrugged. That kind of stuff just accumulated she guessed. Another thought occurred to her. Perhaps it wasn’t all hers. Why did that thought go straight to her gut? Why should he be a virgin? She wasn’t. Her bearer form was though, and that was unlikely to change anytime soon.

The shoes had sturdy two-inch heels. They should be fine. She slipped out the inserts that were stuffed into them and slid the shoes on. She spent a few minutes in the bathroom straightening up. She absently twisted her ring and felt it move a little bit.

Her body jerked like she had stepped on a live wire. She moved her hand closer to her head and examined it. It looked fine.

It’s not supposed to do that. What now?

She needed to be sure everything still worked. She extended her claws, and they came out just fine. She hadn’t broken the ring’s contact at least.

Be careful. Stop twisting it.

Coming out she noticed the music box on Philip’s dresser. Remembering something from a previous visit, she opened it and looked in. Yes, it was still there. She put it on. She was ready.

Well, not quite. There was one more thing she wanted to do, to be sure she knew where she stood. She kicked off her shoes and loosened her belt and changed to her bearer form. It only took a few seconds this time. She went to the door and opened it slightly.

Philip’s breathing and pulse rate came to her as old friends. He was nervous, but who wouldn’t be in his situation? He was probably still charged up from their truncated make-out session.

Lyra was harder to read. She had been a bearer for a year or so, light years ahead of Bread in experience, but she wasn’t in her bearer form right now, so Bread had the advantage. Lyra’s breathing seemed normal, but her heart rate was elevated, irregular. She smelled slightly different, but Bread couldn’t tell if that meant anything. Where had she been last night and what did she know?

Bread changed back to her human form and fixed her clothes. How odd that the form she had lived with most of her life was not considered the normal form anymore. If this was her human form, what was she when she was in her bearer form?

Lyra’s car was parked on the street. Bread heard the locks pop as Lyra walked around the car. Bread put her hand on the door, paused, and looked back at Philip standing in the doorway, house open behind him. A premonition gripped her, making her choke for air, that she would never see Philip or go through that door again.

He shot her a V for victory peace sign and smiled. She found the strength to smile back and flashed a sign of her own. The car rocked a little as Lyra settled into it. Bread pulled open the door and got in. She settled into the seat and reached for the seatbelt.

“He seems nice.”

“What? Oh yes, I think he is. I’m going to miss him.”

“Why? Do you think Portal is going to disappear you or something? You didn’t do anything wrong did you?”

“Of course not. It’s just that for a second back there, well I thought that he might, I mean that I hoped that he would be able to look past what I am, and we could make a go of it.”

“What changed? I hope it wasn’t something I did.”

Bread looked over at Lyra, saw the concern in her eyes.

“It wasn’t something you did. It wasn’t you. It was what you represented. If it had just been me, I think we could have pretended that things could go on like always, except that I’d be somewhat wilder and scarier. When you showed up and he realized that there was an organization out there and that I was one of many, well I’m afraid that might have been too much.”

Lyra smiled unexpectedly, gripped Bread’s arm, and gave it a little shake.

“You worry too much. You must have driven your parents crazy.” She cocked her head at the house. “He wouldn’t be standing at the door if he didn’t want to see you again.”

Lyra started the car. Bread risked another look at the house and waved as the car pulled away. She couldn’t tell if he had waved back. The smell of rain was in the air.

Lyra didn’t seem inclined to talk on the drive to the Armory, so Bread didn’t push it. Everything would be revealed in due time, she guessed. She did ask about Bryce.

“Since he retained his bearer form, they took him to Arnold Funeral Home. They have a special relationship with the Armory.”

“Will I be able to see him?”

“He has already been cremated I believe.” She glanced at Bread. “I am sorry, but we didn’t know where you were, and we couldn’t contact you.”

Bread wondered why Lyra hadn’t told them about Philip. Perhaps it was because she had told Lyra that she had broken up with him. Still, if they were trying to find her…”

Lyra pulled into a parking spot near the entrance to the Armory.

“Aren’t we going to the underground garage?”

“This is more convenient. There’s not much activity today. The targeted electromagnetic pulse junked all of the computers, even the door locks and climate controls. It will be a skeleton crew until they can get the equipment replaced.”

“Are you saying that the attacker targeted this building? I didn’t realize that capability existed.”

“It’s cutting edge. We are dealing with some seriously advanced people.”

Lyra opened the door and got out. Bread did the same. The premonition of rain was not as strong down here among the concrete towers and wide asphalt streets. It felt hotter to her as well.

They pushed through the large revolving door and entered the lobby. At first Bread thought the air conditioning had been repaired but she realized that the fans must have been turned to manual. The air was moving but it had a wet cottony texture as she took it into her lungs.

“We’ll have to take the stairs, I’m afraid, but it’s only two floors up.”

They walked through the lobby; empty expect for a guard at a desk near the door. Lyra held the door to the stairwell open and Bread went in. The still air dug at her clothes and dampened her armpits. She hoped the meeting wouldn’t be too long.

“Why did Portal insist on a meeting here? Couldn’t he afford a hotel suite for the duration?”

“You’ll have to ask him. Perhaps he likes to be on his home turf when he’s under attack. I expect I would.”

“I guess so. Do you think he’ll let us change to our bearer form so we can manage stuffy environment better?”

“We can ask.”

“You were here earlier. What did you do then?”

“It wasn’t as stuffy then. Here we are.”

Bread pushed into the corridor. It was still warm, but it felt like she had stepped onto an ice floe. Lyra indicated the direction they were to go. Bread saw a pair of large double doors about twenty feet down the corridor and headed for them. When she got closer, she saw that they were open slightly.

She paused and looked at Lyra.

“Go on in. I’ll follow you in. We’re expected.”

Fear gripped her gut. She couldn’t walk in on the most important person in the Armory, could she? He was usually too busy to be interrupted like this. Perhaps it spoke to direness of the situation. She sucked up her fear and pushed through the doors.

The conference room looked empty. She cast about and finally saw someone in a chair at the far end of the large room. They were sitting on the edge of their chair hunched over a small refrigerator. It was a woman. Her long hair hung on either side of her head obscuring her.

“I’m sorry. I thought Portal was in here.”

The woman looked up and waved a glass she was holding, inviting Bread to come in. She heard the clinking of ice in the glass.

“Ah, you’re finally here at last. I thought I was going to sweat to death in this pile of junk. My name is Kit. I believe we’ve met.”

Bread didn’t recognize the voice, but horror welled up in her when she saw the woman’s face. It belonged to the woman in the exoskeleton. She screamed and automatically took a step backwards—and slammed into something solid. Something gripped her arms, and, looking down, she saw a bearer’s hand, Lyra’s she suspected, holding her. Lyra’s hoarse voice croaked in her ear.

“You’re not going anywhere dear heart.”

Lyra grunted and tossed Bread forward onto the table.

Her shins struck the edge of the table and pain rocketed through her body almost causing her to black out. While she was recovering Lyra jumped on her and immobilized her by pressing her knee into the small of her back. Her head hurt from striking it on the table. Belatedly she willed her bearer form to appear.

By the time she was fully transformed Lyra had her arms pinned on the table. She could feel where her arm pressed against the table edge, cutting off her circulation. Bread forced herself to speak.

“Why are you doing this? Don’t you know what this woman has done?”

Kit stood near them in her underwear, apparently. Her dress was draped across her arm.

“I expect she does since she helped me plan it. I’d better put this back on. Christ it was getting hot in here. I should have gone after you myself instead of waiting in this awful place.”

“Lyra, how could you? What about the others? What about Bryce?”

“Bryce was a casualty of war, which is what you will be soon.”

“Lyra came to understand that the whole Armory system is flawed. She knows that our group is better suited to administering the rings than Portal and his cronies. We’ve had quite a few pillow talks on the subject.”

“Pillow talks?” Bread’s mind flashed back to the time Lyra had left the bar for a date with a woman whose features had been covered by a ball cap. “Your group?” Bread choked out her question.

“Gnosis. We are the curators of secret knowledge. We’ve been planning this for quite some time. Portal should have listened to us, but he was too proud.”

“You killed him and everyone else here? How moral is that?”

She tried to struggle but Lyra’s strength and position held her firmly in place. Drool rolled out of the edge of her mouth and puddled on the table. Kit slid the dress on and picked up something. It looked like a wire loop wound into a handle. Bread felt someone take her hand. She felt the loop slid over her skin and snug itself over her ring finger.

“Save your outrage. The place was empty when we finally got in. Portal was gone and the ring box was gone—disappeared. I guess Portal is an apt name for him.”

“So now what?”

“So now we need your ring. Two rings aren’t much of a haul for all of our planning, but it’s a minor setback. We’ll find Portal and get the unpaired rings. They can do so much more than they’ve told you.” Bread felt a tug on her arm. “Join us. I can use someone as resourceful as you. I was impressed by the way you took me out and how you escaped.”

“You killed Bryce and now I’m going to kill you.”

“So be it.” Bread felt a pinch on her finger. “Look at the blood. There, the bag is sealed. Take care of her and meet me upstairs. They finally managed to get the damned elevator working.”

Bread closed off the pain pathways. The bleeding would stop within seconds, she knew, but the pain wasn’t going away anytime soon. She struggled against Lyra’s weight.

“Give it up, Bread. You’ll revert soon and I’ll snap your neck. It will be painless. Don’t draw it out any longer than necessary.”

Rage built up in Bread. She opened the pathways and let the pain flood into her brain, let her anger and rage about Bryce’s death build on the pain and galvanize her. Gathering her strength, she pushed upward. Lyra had relaxed, thinking that any threat from Bread was gone now that her ring was gone.

They flew up and off the table. Bread felt satisfaction flood through her when she heard the solid thump of Lyra’s body against the paneled wall. She broke free and turned. Lyra was dazed but she gathered her wits quickly. Bread rushed at her and grappled with her. She could feel Lyra’s claws digging deep into her body.

Good. The more pain she felt the stronger she became. Was that part of the ring’s power? They had always been taught to shut down the pain like she had done last night. She wanted to strangle Lyra, but it wasn’t possible with only one good hand.

Lyra broke Bread’s grip and shoved her away. Bread jumped over the table and noticed the wire loop on the floor. Kit must have dropped it in her desire to get out of the building. What had she said? Meet her upstairs? The roof maybe? Helicopter probably? She had to get out of here and stop Kit from leaving.

Lyra stood panting on the other side of the table.

“How can you maintain your bearer form without your ring?”

“Perhaps I know something about the rings that you don’t.”

The table was between them and the wall was behind Lyra. Bread threw a chair at her to distract her then bent down and pushed the table as hard as she could. The edge of it caught Lyra by surprise and brought her down.

“Bitch I’m going to kill you for that.”

“You were going to kill me anyway so that was kind of an empty threat.”

Bread pressed on the edge of the table and Lyra groaned at the pain in her legs. She grabbed the wire loop and went around to the other side. Lyra was dazed but she would recover soon. Bread slipped the loop over Lyra’s ring finger and pulled the trigger. The loop collapsed and sliced Lyra’s finger off. Bread grabbed the finger. Lyra howled in rage. In her bearer form it sounded like that angry growl of a tiger.

“You asked me how I can stay in this form without my ring. Simple. The ring Kit took was a fake. My ring is on one of my toes.”

Lyra growled again, animal sound with nothing human behind it. Soon she would revert to human form and the pain would be unbearable. She wouldn’t be able to move the table. She might die from shock and loss of blood or she might not. Bread didn’t care.

She pulled Lyra’s ring from her severed finger and dropped the finger on the floor and stuffed the ring in a small pocket on her bikini bottom then ran to the stairwell and up the five floors to the roof. The heat in the stairwell didn’t bother her at all.

The roof door exploded open, and the hinges came loose as Bread slammed into it at full speed. The helicopter sat about thirty feet away. The rotors began to spin faster when they saw her, and the machine would be airborne in seconds. Bread dug her claws into the concrete and sprinted at the machine.

Someone opened a door—Kit?—and aimed a rifle at her. Something slammed into her chest, knocking her backwards. Another bullet hit her, knocking her to the concrete. She stopped the pain and scrambled upright, but the helicopter was too far away.

Bread fought to stay conscious. Kit wouldn’t done with her yet. The sound of the rotor blades had changed, gotten louder, meaning that they were coming back, either to verify that she was dead or to make sure of it. Kit was no doubt wondering how Bread could still be in her bearer form.

Did she think I was Lyra? Could she kill her own lover?

Bread pushed the thought out of her mind. She still had tatters of her dress on her body. Kit knew who she was. She needed to concentrate on the here and now, on the concrete. Casting her gaze around the roof she saw some sacks of concrete mix and some rebar. Repairs were planned for some spot on the roof. They’d never be done now, with the building being abandoned. The pile was about ten feet away.

The helicopter was moving itself into position. She had to act before Kit could get a clear shot at her. Her bearer form was strong, but she didn’t know how many more bullets she could absorb. She gathered her strength and let the pain come in. Driven by the pain she sprinted for the rebar. She could hear the helicopter change course to follow her.

Knowing that she would be vulnerable if she stopped to pick up the rebar, she bent low and scooped one of the ridged metal bars without slowing down. Judging the location of the helicopter by its sound she turned and ran under it. She imagined Kit positioned at the door, being jerked around in her harness, and cursing Bread for not cooperating.

Her lips pulled away from her teeth in a grim smile. The rotors were making a lot of noise, but underneath that chopping whine she could make out Kit’s ragged breathing. Bread closed her eyes and focused on it.

Bitch you are about to be served.

She was moving too fast for her camo to keep up, so she had to get this right the first time. She focused on the breathing, amplifying it, pushing all other sounds into the background. Digging her claws into the concrete she sprinted about ten feet out, turned, and threw the rebar at the source of the breathing. She heard a thump and then she heard a scream.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Kit hanging out the door, kept from falling by the harness she wore. The helicopter pulled away, gaining altitude, and was soon gone. Kit was still alive though and her eyes were focused on Bread. The rebar was visible where it had pierced her right side, probably going through her lung.

She would die from internal bleeding unless she got to her secret base or wherever she lived and had it taken care of. If she were smart, she would put on Bryce’s ring and heal herself. No, that wouldn’t work. It took a while for the ring to take effect. Kit could be dead by then. She reminded herself that Kit had advanced resources she could draw on. Bread had to assume that she had few hours at most so she couldn’t afford to waste time.

Wounding Kit was the one bright spot in her dark day. She tested herself by moving an arm. Pain flashed through her and she immediately shut it down. She didn’t need that right now. What she needed to do was get out of the building. She pulled the tatters of her dress from her body. Her underwear would have to do.

She headed for the stairs at a fast limp before she remembered that Kit had said the elevators were working. Making her way into the rooftop structure she found the elevator and pushed the bottom. She almost fainted with relief when the door slid open.

She got in and pushed the lobby button before slumping against the wall. On the way down she did a damage assessment of her body. The bullets had been trapped inside her and they hadn’t been allowed to bounce around and cause secondary damage. There was a lot of blood on her chest, but it was dry and would wash off. She poked a finger in the entry holes and determined that they had closed a little.

But she was hungry. All that repair work required an energy source. Right now, it was pulling protein from her muscles. She needed food soon or she might kill herself repairing herself.

The ding of the elevator chime pulled Bread out of her self-check mode. She held an arm against the paneled wall to verify that her camo was still working. The doors would open in a second so she flattened herself against the section of wall with the control panel so that she wouldn’t be an easy target when the doors opened.

Her stomach growled, her body signaling her that she needed to eat something, and fast. She knew where the vending machines were. Perhaps she should have gone there first. No, she needed to make sure that the lobby was empty.

Holding the doors open she took a quick peek at the lobby. It was empty. The guard must have gone with Kit. He had been here for show. Once she was in the lobby, she realized that there was no way she could get out and get to safety without someone seeing here, camo or not, and calling the police to report that a zoo animal was loose on a city street.

Retreating to the elevator she stared at the control panel, hoping that an idea would come to her. One did, but it wasn’t one she liked. Lyra’s purse was in the conference room. There was a chance that Bread’s phone was in it. There was a better chance that Lyra’s was in it.

She pressed the button for the second floor. As the elevator doors closed and the mechanism engaged, she tried not to think of what she was going to find. She knew what she hoped she would find. She hoped she would find Lyra’s dead body.

Now that she was out of danger and mending, some of the savagery she had displayed during her fight with Lyra had dissipated. She didn’t regret trying to kill Lyra. Oh no. Lyra had been waiting to snap her neck as soon as she lost her bearer form.

The thing was—up until that moment Lyra had been her friend had been—she thought—on her side. In Bread’s mind, she still was. It would take time to change that particular check box from (former) friend to (dead) foe.

The conference room door was still open. Bread paused outside and listened. Her stomach knotted. Someone was alive in there. It had to be Lyra because the breathing and heartbeat would have been undetectable without instruments.

Lyra wasn’t dead yet. Did she want to wait out here for her to die? Yes she did. Why? Because if she went in there, she would have to kill her, and she didn’t think she had the stomach for it.

So, I’m going to stand here until she’s dead?

Her stomach growled again.

Maybe I should go find those vending machines. Maybe she’ll be dead when I come back.

“Is somebody out there?”

It was a human voice. The extra register was missing. Bread hunched her shoulders and started to pull herself into a tight ball, but she stopped herself. She straightened her body and walked into the room.

“Yes. It’s me. Kit got away. Somebody shot me a couple of times, but I’ll get better.”

Lyra’s eyes had been focused on the floor. Upon hearing Bread’s voice, they snapped up and widened in fear.

“Did you come back to make sure I was dead? Are you going to finish the job? I expect that’s what I’d do if I were in your situation.”

“I came back to see if you had my phone in your purse. I need to call Philip.”

“It’s in there.” She cocked her head. “My purse is in the corner over there. Are you going to kill me before or after you make the call?”

“I was thinking of leaving you here to die.”

“Yeah, I guess I deserve that.”

“Why did you do it, Lyra? Why did you help her?”

Lyra sighed.

“I’m dying. I’m not interested in discussing philosophy. I fell in love. Kit made a convincing case. End of story.”

Bread went to the corner and found the purse. She verified that her phone was in it. Then she went to the table and lifted it off Lyra’s legs. Lyra screamed.

“God it hurts so much. Needles. I wish I could shut it off.”

She started to cry. Bread took her phone out and called Philip. He answered immediately.

“Listen, Philip. I’m at the Armory. I’ll give you the address. Could you come and get me? I’ve been though some rough stuff, but I’ll be all right. I need you to come down to the service entrance and help me get away. I can’t change back right now because I’m repairing my body.”

She waited for Philip’s excitement to subside.

“I’ll be fine. It’s all over. When can you be here? I’m sorry to inconvenience you like this.”

“It’s not an inconvenience. I’ve been waiting here hoping you would call.”

Tears formed in her eyes. She had a hard time keeping her voice level when she spoke again. She glanced at Lyra, saw the pain on her face, and saw the resigned look in her eyes.

“One more thing. There will be two of us. Lyra has been hurt and she’s lost her ring so she’s in a lot of pain right now. Could you bring a bottle of pain reliever with you?”

She broke the connection and looked at Lyra.

“I’m not going to trust you with a ring again, but maybe we can work something out when we get back so that you can get healed. Do you think you can hold on until we get back to Philip’s house?”

Lyra nodded weakly. She had to speak through clenched teeth.

“I think I can do that. Yeah.”

Philip eased his car to a stop a few past the entrance to the underground parking garage. The building was old and looked pretty much like every other building on this block. He popped the locks and got out of the car. He was opening the back door when Bread, or someone who looked at lot like her, came out of the building with a woman in her arms. Was that Lyra? She looked awful.

“What happened to her?”

“Let’s talk about that later, okay?”

“Sure.”

Still holding Lyra’s limp form Bread sat down and moved herself over to the other side of the car. She lowered Lyra’s body onto the seat but kept her head in Bread’s lap.

“Be sure her feet are inside before you close the door, please.”

“Sure.”

Lyra’s feet were bare. She must have been in that other form at some point. What had Bread said, that she had lost her ring? How had that happened? He closed the door and slid behind the steering wheel. After a quick scan of the street, he started the car and pulled away from the curb.

He stole a quick glance to the back seat. Bread was crouched low so as to minimize being seen. She looked down, her attention focused on Lyra, stroking her hair gently.

“We’ll be safe soon and see what we can do about your pain.” She looked up. “Philip, did you bring the pain killers?”

“Yes.” He took a bottle from the middle console and handed it back to her. “There’s water and beer in the cooler at your feet.”

“You brought beer?”

“Lyra drank a whole one without stopping this morning. I figured I’d bring some. It has a lot of carbs, you know, for healing.”

Bread looked skeptical.

“Lyra, I’ve got some painkillers here. I’ll get some water then shake a few of them onto your palm.”

“Could I have a beer instead of water?”

“If that’s what you want.”

Philip heard the clattering sound of the ice as Bread reached in for a beer. She opened it. Lyra put five or six pills in her mouth and let Bread hold the bottle while she drank. The bottle was empty when she was done.

“I didn’t realize you had a hollow leg.”

“I bet there is lots about me you didn’t realize huh.”

“I guess so, but let’s not go into that right now.”

“Fine, if you’ll get me another beer.”

“I brought along some beef jerky and stuff as well. It’s in the bag.”

“I must say, Philip, I am impressed at how well you think under pressure. I might have to marry you after all.”

He glanced at the mirror. She quickly looked away. She had not intended to say that last part. Not out loud at least. He was saved from having to make a comment. Lyra began to cry. Bread continued to stroke her head.

“We’ll be there soon and then we’ll take care of the pain.”

“That’s not why I’m crying. I’m such a fool.”

“Why is that?”

“I see now that Kit was using me. She exploited a need in me and used it to get what she wanted.”

“Why do you say that?”

“She left me.”

“I don’t think she wanted to. The chopper was waiting when I got to the roof. She was waiting for you. When she saw me, she probably figured you were dead. She had to leave.” She looked at the mirror. “Kit was the woman I fought last night. She was the person Lyra took me to see this morning.”

Philip was puzzled about the events they were talking about, but he knew better than to break in with a question.

“I got tired of keeping the things I had done locked inside me. You know what I mean. You’ve got things locked inside you as well.”

“I know, Lyra. We all do.”

“But we do more than most. The only reason we were chosen was so that we could be considered dead to the world. I could tell her, Bread. I could tell her the things I had done, and she wouldn’t judge me. At least I thought so until today.”

“Try to relax. You’re getting yourself all worked up over nothing. If things had gone according to plan, I’m sure you would be with her now. It’s my fault that she had to leave you.”

“How can you be so sure? Have you told him what you did?”

There was silence. Philip spoke up.

“She told me everything, and it didn’t matter at all. She felt she had no choice.”

He glanced in the mirror. Bread’s eyes were fixed on his. She started to say something, but Lyra cut her off.

“Is there any beer left?”

“Yeah. I’ll get it for you.”

After Lyra finished the beer, she seemed to fall asleep. Bread reached into the bag and found the beef jerky.

“Could you hold this while I slice it open?”

“Sure.”

Philip held the bag behind him. He felt a little tug and imagined Bread’s claws slicing through the hard plastic.

“Thanks.”

He looked in the mirror and saw that she was chewing five sticks of the jerky at once. Her fur changed from yellow to orange to red. He thought that right now she looked more like a fox than a cat and figured it must be a trick of the light.

Philip sat in his car and watched Bread say goodnight to Lyra. They stood beside Lyra’s car, doing the awkward dance people do when they want forgiveness but are afraid to ask for it. A few minutes later they engaged in a brief hug and Lyra opened the car door. Only a few hours ago they had tried to kill each other. Philip shook his head. He wondered how well he would do in such as world.

Bread walked to his car and opened the passenger door. Slid in.

“Well, that’s done and sorted,” he said.

“For now. Lyra is a bundle of conflicting emotions. She loves Kit, but she’s not sure if she loves her enough to do what Kit wants. She went over the edge today and she’s not sure if she knows the way back.”

They were quiet for a moment. Philip spoke.

“Did she tell you where your car was?”

Bread shook her head like someone does who has fallen asleep in class.

“Yes. It’s where I left it. I’ll give you directions.”

Philip hesitated. He wanted to say something, to find out what Bread planned to do, but he hesitated. Bread noticed the hesitation.

“What?”

“Before we get your car I uh, wanted to check with you about your plans, you know, what you’re going to do after you get it. Your car I mean.”

She looked at him, and it looked to him like she had heightened her senses, possibly in an effort to see what his thoughts were.

“I figured I’d go home. You must be tired of all the craziness I dumped on you today. I know I’d be.”

“Crazy? Bread, I think you’re awesome. I want you to come back home with me. I don’t want you to ever leave.”

“What about her?”

Philip was confused for a second and his mind flashed to Sarah. Did she think he was serious about Sarah? Then it hit him. He took her hand in his.

“Her? I think she’s awesome too.”

“But dangerous.”

“Yeah, definitely dangerous, but what am I going to do? I love you, Sally Myers. I knew you were complicated, but I didn’t realize that you had taken complicated to a whole new level.”

She covered her mouth with her free hand then wiped something out of her eye.

“Wow, you certainly know how to turn a gal’s head. You don’t see me as a wild animal, something not human?”

He pointed to his eyes and then at hers.

“Your eyes told me who you were this morning. Your body may change but your soul doesn’t.”

She looked down for a second then looked at him.

“We’d better get going before I pull you into the back seat and keep you there for the rest of the night.”

She didn’t wait for a reply but pulled the shoulder strap across her body and buckled it. Philip quickly followed suit.

“My car is in in the underground lot. You can get to it by using that ramp you saw when you picked me up.”

Bread followed Philip’s car into his garage. She sat staring at her hands on the steering wheel while the sixteen-foot-wide door closed behind her.

So here I am, about to go into Philip’s house, into Philip’s bed, to stay the night. Am I crazy? Am I so selfish that I would risk his life to satisfy my needs?

She watched her knuckles turn white.

I should back out of her right now and leave and never come back.

Too bad the door was already closed. She had let her inaction make her decision for her.

I’m pathetic.

The sudden rapping on her window made her jump. Philip was looking at her, looking very concerned. She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door. He stood aside.

“Are you all right, Bread?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just pausing a minute before I embark on my new life as your better half.”

Christ, Bread. If you lay it on too thick, he’ll collapse under the weight of all your bullshit.

“My better half?”

“Uh, too late at night for banter?”

“Come on. Out with it. I don’t need your heightened senses to know something is bothering you.”

The sound of his words echoed around the garage. She wiped her eyes.

“I tried to do the right thing, but I’m selfish and weak. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t anywhere near you. I love you so much.”

“You don’t want to kill or maim me. I get that. Tell me, do you often find yourself losing control and doing something you didn’t intend to?”

“No, except for that one time with you.”

“Maybe that was because you were hiding your true self from me. Do you think that could have been a factor? Do you have this problem with other men, or with men who can change like you? There are others aren’t there? You mentioned someone named Bryce.”

“Yeah, there was Bryce, but we never, I’ve never, I mean I wasn’t a virgin when we met, but, you know, she is.”

He reached out and folded her into his arms.

“Then maybe we should settle this issue once and for all.”

She clung to him, suddenly unable to support her own weight.

“But what if I—“

“Then I’ll die a happy man.”

She kissed him then and took her time about it.

Philip was in bed, waiting for her. Bread stood in the bathroom. She was naked. She wanted to check some things before going to the bedroom. She held up her right hand and wiggled her fingers, all five of them. Her ring finger had grown back and looked like it had always been there.

She explored her chest and abdomen feeling for the spots where the bullets had torn into her body and couldn’t find them. The bullets themselves had surfaced earlier and were now in the kitchen trash can.

What are you waiting on, Bread? It’s late. He’ll fall asleep if you don’t go out there soon. Is that what you want?

She pushed the negative voice out of her head and willed herself to change.

She opened the door and walked into the room. Philip was reading. She extended her claws.

“Hello handsome. Is that spot beside you taken?”

Philip’s body jerked and he dropped the book. His heart rate spiked, and his blood pressure went up. His breathing increased. His pupils dilated. He stared at her for a few seconds before smiling.

“I was keeping it warm for you.” He lifted the sheet. “Won’t you join me?”

A few hours later Bread slumped at the kitchen table. The cup of coffee sitting in front of her was getting cold. She turned the ring in her hand, passing it from the fingers on one hand to the fingers on the other.

What a fucking mess. These rings were supposed to be forever, like a wedding ring, but instead of another person, I was marrying and idea.

She sighed. Right now, it looked like the marriage had been annulled. Portal and his cohorts were gone, and she didn’t know if they were coming back. Lyra hadn’t known anything and Kit, with all her secret information, hadn’t known either. She didn’t like how it made her feel.

She had been able to push this growing feeling of fear, unease, impending disaster aside while she worked on her relationship with Philip. It had been important to her to commit to him because he might be the only stable thing left in her life.

The sex had been great, and the snuggling afterward had been even better, but she had been unable to sleep, unable to keep the nameless dread floating around her at bay.

So now she was out here letting her coffee get cold.

No, dammit, I’m out here trying to make a plan.

How’s that working out for you?

Anger boiled up in her and she threw the ring across the room where is clanged against the refrigerator and fell to the floor.

It would serve me right if it rolled under the refrigerator or the stove. Maybe that would be a good thing. I could leave it under there and go on with my life. If Kit showed up for the ring I could point to the stove and say, ‘go for it’.

“Bread? Are you all right? I heard a noise and noticed that you weren’t in bed. I was afraid you had gone home.”

Bread didn’t jump at the sound of his voice. Her heightened senses had alerted her as soon as he had gotten out of bed. She looked at him and managed a pathetic smile.

“Most people would chase a wild animal out of their house, not have sex with it.”

“I love you in all your various forms.” He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “What’s this?” He stooped down. The ring was in his hand when he straightened up. “I thought this thing wasn’t supposed to come off.”

“That’s what I thought, and I had verified that truth a number of times, but yesterday, for some reason, it released its grip on me.”

He put the ring on the table and got a cup. “Maybe it happened when that guy Portal disappeared. Maybe he was the one making it work that way.”

“Maybe. I don’t know.” She looked at him as he poured coffee. “Maybe it happened after I committed myself to you.”

He finished pouring and sat next to her.

“The power of love? Is that it?”

“It’s as good a reason as any. One of the things Kit said keeps coming back to me. She said that the rings could do more than we knew.”

“Coming off doesn’t seem like a very interesting power. Most rings can do that.”

“True.”

A thought struck her. She picked up the ring.

“Give me your hand.”

“Which one?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

He extended his left hand, and she slid the ring on his finger. He looked at it.

“Why did you do that?”

“I don’t know. It’s silly, I know. It will be several hours before you could change into your bearer form, and even then, it wouldn’t be very strong.”

“Do you want me to become the bearer? What will you do then?”

Bread buried her head in her hands.

“I don’t know. Right now, I don’t really give a shit. I am so fucking pitiful. I pledged myself to something that may be gone forever, and I have to ask myself if I really want to keep doing it.”

She felt his hands on her shoulders and trembled as they dug into the tight muscles. She almost relaxed. Almost relaxed, but not quite.

“What about the others? Have you tried to contact them?”

“I don’t know how. Bryce was my link to the Armory.”

“Perhaps there is a list. Perhaps Lyra knows something.”

“She might, but there’s no telling where she is right now.”

“You might be giving her more credit than she deserves. She’s probably having a pity party right now just like you are.”

Bread reached up and gripped his arms with her hands. She pressed the back of her head into the pit of his stomach and pulled his arms close to her.

“I love you too.” She stood up and turned to face him. “Let’s go back to bed. In the morning I’ll start my search. People in other cities need to be told what has happened here. I guess I’m the one to do it.”

He took off the ring and slipped it back on her finger.

“I guess you’ll need this then.”


End file.
